NEW DELHI — Priyanka Gandhi, Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi's daughter, on Monday denied media reports that she wanted to contest the 2014 parliamentary elections against opposition Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi from Varanasi saying her family would never stop her from contesting an election if she wanted to. According to reports, Priyanka wanted to fight in the holy city but the party leadership finally decided against fielding her. “I have always said my focus is Amethi and Raebareli, that remains unchanged,” Priyanka told a national television. Priyanka, whose political responsibilities so far have been to manage her brother Rahul and mother Sonia's election campaigns in family pocket boroughs of Rae Bareli and Amethi, wanted to fight Modi because the Gujarat chief minister was “bad for the country” and needed to be “stopped,” reports had said. “No one in my family would ever stop me from contesting an election. My brother, mother and husband would wholeheartedly support me if I wanted to contest,” she told the news channel. Priyanka, mother of two, admitted that Rahul had on several occasions asked her to take the electoral plunge. “My brother has expressed to me many times that he thinks I should contest,” but she was not inclined. “This certainly is my own personal decision and I will change it only when I feel from within me that I should,” she said. Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said, “I don't think anybody can prevent her and nobody will prevent her from enlarging her role as and when she chooses to play a larger political role in the Indian political spectrum.” “She has always defined her own political role and will continue to decide her own role. Priyanka Gandhi by her own calling has chosen to work in the constituencies of Amethi and Rae Bareli,” he said.
